The Birmingham Genealogical Society was organized March 15, 1959. It was organized exclusively for educational and research purposes, and to foster preservation of genealogical and historical material. We are located in Jefferson County, Alabama, USA.

Alabama Records Disposition

While searching for something else, I happened upon the Alabama Archives Record Disposition Authorities for Local and State Government agencies. It addresses current records created by these agencies as well as the older records.

According to the website:

The State and Local Government Records Commissions review and approve the RDAs at their quarterly meetings. Once the Commissions approve an RDA, the agency or official creating those records is authorized to implement records disposition. Disposition may involve destruction of records that have met their legal, fiscal, and administrative needs or preservation of records identified in the RDA as permanent.

I have not read all of this, but one thing I found of interest was the following:

As part of its record-keeping responsibilities, the probate office must maintain copies of each daily or weekly newspaper published in the county. The newspapers document the probate office’s mandated responsibility to publish various notices to the public created in conjunction with its other duties.

Here are links if you are interested in reading more and downloading the pdfs:

Post navigation

One comment on “Alabama Records Disposition”

I would just like to add a clarification regarding the newspaper note above. If the probate judge decides to replace the newspapers with microfilm, that is perfectly acceptable. Many of the county daily and weekly newspapers have been microfilmed and are available at the Alabama Department of Archives and History or can be sent to any library for use via interlibrary loan. To search to see if your newspaper is available on microfilm go to http://www.archives.alabama.gov/newsmicro/search.cfm